2019 Defender XT Cab SATV pinlocker install

[Andystoy19]

I decided to purchase the SATV pinlocker rather than the Halo locker because it was in stock and the price was better. They both appear to operate very similarily except that the SATV kit contains all the parts required when you disassemble the diff. You take out the visco lok and replace with SATV so if required in the future I could go back to Visco lok if I wanted to sell the machine for eg.

Rudy has a build on here for the Halo locker and what caught my eye was that he did not disassemble the front suspension as much as the excellent video from SATV does, probably saving me some time, thanks Rudy.

Raise and block the front end of the Defender securely, remove the front wheels, remove the bolt on the short arm of the front stabilizer and fold back out of the way. Take out the bolt(s) of each lower A arm and tap the arm down gently, it folds down out of the way. Remove the lower shock bolt to the A arm and raise and secure the shock(s) out of the way with a strap. Raise the remaining part of the suspension (upper A arm, steering and hub) onto your knee to find a free point where you can feel some in and out movement on the front axle, put both hands on the axle near the diff and push in and pull outwards sharply (towards yourself) to release the front axle from the differential. Rest the axle on the lower part of the frame and raise and secure the rest of the suspension out of the way. I raised the upper A arm only to the point where I could rest the inner splined axle on the frame out of the way. The same procedure for both sides. 

Drain the diff, remove the vent line from the diff, remove the drive shaft bolt on the front and move it back off the spline and remove the front bolts holding the diff to the frame. Turn the diff and manuever it out towards the passenger side of the Defender, this requires some juggling because it is a tight fit.

Follow the video from SATV to disassemble and reassemble the front diff with their provided parts. I had a problem with the black anodized shift collar that has the four pins which provide the locking of the parts. It appeared that when the shift collar was made during installation of the pins the force caused the ID of the collar to swell slightly inwards preventing the collar from sliding over the hub. I used some Emery cloth and carefully sanded the inside of the shift collar to make it slightly larger. After many trial and error fittings I discovered the ID was too small only where the pins were so using a small round file I carefully removed only enough material to allow the shift hub to slide over the hub. I may be wrong but this should have been discovered when the kit was assembled for shipping, someone should have done a trial fit? The setting of the back lash was straight forward and I lubed all the new parts with some diff lube so nothing would be dry on start up and reinstall the drain plug.

Before I reinstalled the front diff I took the electrical harness and routed it through a grommet into the cab. The grommet I used is on the drivers side of the machine just above the frame that holds the top of the front shock. If you shine a light at the right angle upwards you can see it and reach it with two fingers it contains the shift cable which is line of sight from the inside of the cab. I removed the two screws on the shifter trim and you can barely see the grommet but it makes the fishing of the electrical cable easier and provides access to the back of the dash next to the switch access, Pop off the switch access which includes the ignition key and now you have access to the under dash terminal for the power you need to tie into. The terminal strip faces away from you (use a mirror after you disconnect the battery) the nearest terminal is ground, the center is always hot (battery connection) and the keyed on connection is the third connection. You need to connect the ground to the nearest bolt and the power to the farthest bolt, The nut is a 10mm and is a nyloc with a brass insert ($4/cdn if you drop it into the heater assembly), you will be working blind with one hand in each access. I used a 10mm nut driver end with a 8mm gear wrench (you can use a small ratchet if you can see or feel that you are on the right nut) to remove the nuts install the cable ends and reinstall and tighten the nut. This part of the job was a royal PITA with scrapes, cuts and choice language. I cut into the power wire and installed a 25 amp fuse just in case; I may replace the fuse with a smaller one when I find out what size it should be. The kit should come with a fuse holder and fuse to make the kit more complete. I cut out the panel access for the switch installed and tested the switch etc, tie wrapped in place and replaced the panel access. The wire harness outside (leading to the front diff) was tie wrapped out of the way and the grommet came loose so I had to reinstall it.

Slide the front diff back into place, reinstall the drive shaft and tighten the bolt. Install the 4 bolts that hold the diff to the frame, install the electric fitting to the top of the diff cover with two bolts and washers and clip the plug into place. Function the switch on the dash to see and hear the front shift solenoid working. Reinstall and zip tie the vent line.

Reinstall the front axles into the diff housing by giving them a good jar inwards to seat them right against the housing. SATV has a video on how to install and check to make the axles are properly seated in the diff, if they are not you will twist off the end of the drive shaft because of limited drive area. 

Reinstall the lower A arm bolt, lower shock mount bolt and front tires. If you haven't already filled the front diff do so using 75-90 diff oil. I will update this post after I have tested the performance of the install in the future.

[Andystoy19]

I installed the pinlocker front diff lock but wasn't sure if it was working but on my first major stuck job in the muskeg I found out it works. I am now looking to buy two new front half shafts since I broke the CV in the left front first (loud pop) followed a bit later by a second pop which was the right front CV.

The left front wheel broke threw the muskeg and dropped below the surface (no water or mud on the surface) the cab had about 6" of muskeg against the drivers door so I had to exit the passenger side which was still on level ground. The winch (4500 lb.) couldn't pull me forward so I had to assist the winch with bumping the throttle and after a couple of attempts I gained several inches but the left front wheel was forced into the muskeg resulting in huge traction and requiring the whole machine to lift up about 20". Too much throttle found the first weak spot the left CV and while still stuck I had to continue using some throttle to assist the winch resulting in the right side popping (which was on the level ground) as the winch provided more load on the right front tire. The good news was that the front end was up enough that the winch could pull me forward another couple of feet and I drove out in rear wheel drive only.(There was no belt smell so belt slippage was minimal with the EPI clutch kit)

Today I am researching the Can am premium axles 705401936(7) and the rhino 2 and other aftermarket axles to see if they will fit and how they compare cost wise. After strengthing this weak link I suppose the next will be the front drive shaft. lol.🤨

[A hunt 2 remember]

Get ahold of Gorilla axle. They made my front axles. Lifetime warranty.... AND SUPER PEOPLE!!!

[Andystoy19]

Thanks I did send them an email inquiry so we will see what there reply is? It may be too pricey for my retired budget? I checked with many other after market axle builders and so far no one else makes a replacement axle and Can am premium axles don't fit this model either?😟

[Andystoy19]

Gorilla has a replacement axle for this machine but its way too pricey for me, about $1700 Cdn for the pair including shipping and tax. That is over 3 times the cost of stock axles which means I'll pass for now.🤨

[A hunt 2 remember]

2 hours ago, Andystoy19 said:

Gorilla has a replacement axle for this machine but its way too pricey for me, about $1700 Cdn for the pair including shipping and tax. That is over 3 times the cost of stock axles which means I'll pass for now.🤨

I hear that... my thinking was that if it went out that quick another would most likely not last either... So with a LIFETIME replacement it made my choice.... especially knowing my plan is to have Bear WELL OVER 4500-6000 miles. Because Bears' running gear was stock for the first 1000, I wasn't convinced OEM HD axles.... which you can't get. Or I couldn't. Almost everything BUT an HD10 CAB. So I bit the bullet.... If I had a locker front end..... (which will be coming soon) it wouldn't be a question. Actually thinking drive lines might be coming.... The "Gorilla Bear" might be his new name.... lol

😉

 

[Andystoy19]

Demon axle says they are a couple of months away from building a set for the Defender Cab and I suspect that Rhino might build one but no commitment so far.

As far as the locking front end the SATV pinlocker (as far as I can tell didn't fail) because it broke the right side axle (on level firm ground) after the left one failed. The electric solenoid locks up very quickly and contrary to many reports I could still steer even with all 4 wheels locked up, some suggest that the vehicle tends to want to go straight ahead and not turn.🤨

[Andystoy19]

Looks like I will be using the stock replacement axles 705402170(1) as the premium axles do not fit this machine and the gorilla axles are too pricey. You can order the replacement cv joints but they are the same price as the whole axle so a non starter.😔

[A hunt 2 remember]

Well, it looks like Bear needs a front dif... not sure exactly at this point to what extreme... but he went in for a brake issue... (DUM DUM MOVE on my part) and he gets diagnosed with front dif issues... So, brake parts ordered... Bear being put back together... picking him up tomorrow 250.00 lighter in the pocket.... and a differential in need of servicing.... I think somewhere I read something about this..... 😢 

"If you build them, THEY WILL BREAK!!!"                                                                    -----JDS-----

I'll probably be looking into drivelines next...

:'(

[A hunt 2 remember]

Okay Andy,

Do you think a guy could just splice in the actuator switch to the OEM 4x4 switch? Saving a switch space? My dash already looks like a small commuter plane cabin. 😉 Cant think the transfer case actuator would care...

Seems my dif is jacked up so as long as the gears are good the locker dif should fix bear back to 110% thinking the bigger tires blew a visco DISK!!! Well, that and DEEP WET SNOW probably didn't help. ALWAYS SOMETHING...

[Andystoy19]

I appreciate your lack of switch space but I found that keeping the 4x4 switch seperate from the front locker switch allows me to drive in rear wheel open, rear wheel locked, front wheel open when the 4x4 is activated and 4x4 locked when the front locker is locked. 

On the trail I tend to run in rear open and 4x4 engaged so I have front and rear wheel drive for minor traction assist and jumping dead trees etc. and engage 4x4 rear and front for something that requires maximum traction, less wear on the diff's when turning etc. and the tires as well. There wasn't a fuse included on the pinlocker system so I wired one in wasn't sure of the correct size so I think I used a 30 Amp but it is probably too big?🤑

[A hunt 2 remember]

14 hours ago, Andystoy19 said:

I appreciate your lack of switch space but I found that keeping the 4x4 switch seperate from the front locker switch allows me to drive in rear wheel open, rear wheel locked, front wheel open when the 4x4 is activated and 4x4 locked when the front locker is locked. 

On the trail I tend to run in rear open and 4x4 engaged so I have front and rear wheel drive for minor traction assist and jumping dead trees etc. and engage 4x4 rear and front for something that requires maximum traction, less wear on the diff's when turning etc. and the tires as well. There wasn't a fuse included on the pinlocker system so I wired one in wasn't sure of the correct size so I think I used a 30 Amp but it is probably too big?🤑

GREAT POINT!!! So... total drives... 2wd... 4wd limited slip all 4 with OEM 4x actuator.... rear locked via OEM locker switch.... Front locked via SATV locker switch....  Sound about right??? Got bear back yesterday... now to open up the front dif and see whats up.... but I think a locker is in his future...

[Andystoy19]

The SATV pinlocker kit will provide new shims for the spider gears and replaces the visco lok without any other modifications so if someone wanted to go back to visco lok for resale etc, they could. The visco lok cartridge (contains the heavy fluid that provides additional force to the spacers) may have worn a bit to where the fluid has leaked out resulting in an open front diff.?🙂

[A hunt 2 remember]

Im still running a stock dif at this time. But have a blown OEM dif that needs fixed/replaced...